MCI

The study involved 74 non-smokers with amnestic MCI (average age 76), of whom half were given a nicotine patch of 15 mg a day for six months and half received a placebo. Cognitive tests were given at the start of the study and again after three and six months.

After 6 months of treatment, the nicotine-treated group showed significant improvement in attention, memory, speed of processing and consistency of processing. For example, the nicotine-treated group regained 46% of normal performance for age on long-term memory, whereas the placebo group worsened by 26%.

More data from the long-running Mayo Clinic Study of Aging has revealed that, in this one part of the U.S. at least, MCI develops at an overall rate of 6.4% a year among older adults (70+), with a higher rate for men and the less-educated.

The study involved 1,450 older adults (aged 70-89), who underwent memory testing every 15 months for an average of three years. By the end of the study period, 296 people had developed MCI, a rate of 6.4% per year. For men, the rate was 7.2% compared to 5.7% for women.

We know that physical exercise greatly helps you prevent cognitive decline with aging. We know that mental stimulation also helps you prevent age-related cognitive decline. So it was only a matter of time before someone came up with a way of combining the two. A new study found that older adults improved executive function more by participating in virtual reality-enhanced exercise ("exergames") that combine physical exercise with computer-simulated environments and interactive videogame features, compared to the same exercise without the enhancements.

The study involved 104 healthy older adults (average age 87) participating in the Oregon Brain Aging Study. Analysis of the nutrient biomarkers in their blood revealed that those with diets high in omega 3 fatty acids and in vitamins C, D, E and the B vitamins had higher scores on cognitive tests than people with diets low in those nutrients, while those with diets high in trans fats were more likely to score more poorly on cognitive tests.

A ten-year study involving 7,239 older adults (65+) has found that each common health complaint increased dementia risk by an average of about 3%, and that these individual risks compounded. Thus, while a healthy older adult had about an 18% chance of developing dementia after 10 years, those with a dozen of these health complaints had, on average, closer to a 40% chance.

A telephone survey of around 17,000 older women (average age 74), which included questions about memory lapses plus standard cognitive tests, found that getting lost in familiar neighborhoods was highly associated with cognitive impairment that might indicate Alzheimer’s. Having trouble keeping up with a group conversation and difficulty following instructions were also significantly associated with cognitive impairment. But, as most of us will be relieved to know, forgetting things from one moment to the next was not associated with impairment!

In the first mouse study, when young and old mice were conjoined, allowing blood to flow between the two, the young mice showed a decrease in neurogenesis while the old mice showed an increase. When blood plasma was then taken from old mice and injected into young mice, there was a similar decrease in neurogenesis, and impairments in memory and learning.

In a small study, 266 older adults with mild cognitive impairment (aged 70+) received a daily dose of 0.8 mg folic acid, 0.5 mg vitamin B₁₂ and 20 mg vitamin B₆ or a placebo for two years. Those treated with B vitamins had significantly lower levels of homocysteine at the end of the trial (high homocysteine is a known risk factor for age-related cognitive decline and dementia). Moreover, this was associated with a significantly slower rate of brain shrinkage.

Comparison of 99 chimpanzee brains ranging from 10-51 years of age with 87 human brains ranging from 22-88 years of age has revealed that, unlike the humans, chimpanzee brains showed no sign of shrinkage with age. But the answer may be simple: we live much longer. In the wild, chimps rarely live past 45, and although human brains start shrinking as early as 25 (as soon as they reach maturity, basically!), it doesn’t become significant until around 50.

A study involving 105 people with Alzheimer's disease and 125 healthy older adults has compared cognitive function and brain shrinkage in those aged 60-75 and those aged 80+.